Brushing Up

 I imagine more than a few of you will be happy to see that I'm doing house project posts again, instead of relentless chicken and garden stuff!  Just joking, I know ya'll enjoy those too.  I, however, am VERY happy to be doing house project posts again.  I'm ecstatic to have something to post in that area.  I took just a bit of a break from the pottery, as I had a little inventory built up, and used the time to start anew on the house.  Now to just keep up that momentum but still take 3-4 days a week to do pottery.  As I have some money saved up I can devote a little more time to the house and not be having to scrap every minute to make money.  Of course, not really having any bills helps too. And having the garden in full swing for food production. Our grocery bills should be minimal for some time.
So, my first priority is to finish the outside.  Every last bit!  This shouldn't take too long actually.  It's mostly just painting, which I actually enjoy.  I know most people detest painting a house but I like it. I like how fresh everything looks.  In fact, I have to resist the urge to paint stuff that really doesn't need going over again.  I know; I'm whacked in the head.  I have been alternating between finishing this south wall and the clerestory wall that you can see just a tad of.  The upper part was really done but it needed a little touch up on the caulk and trim.  I was very happy at how well the caulking etc. is holding up in that area because it receives the brunt of the weather and sun in the winter.  I always use a siliconized latex caulk with at least a 35 year warranty. (I've actually seen some with a 50 year but it's harder to find).  The siliconized caulk is flexible enough to move with the building without cracking, and the structure is going to expand and contract with the weather.  I will say though that it works better if you apply at least a 1/4" bead to cracks, joints etc.  Smaller, thinner beads do tend to split with excessive heat/ cold.  The silicone paired with the latex base makes it paintable.  100% silicone will resist paint, so keep that in mind.  You can get 100% silicone in a variety of colors though, although you may have to go to a specialty company.  This has been one item that I have tried to be very conscientious of simply because passive solar houses are designed to be exposed to so much sun. 

I've been painting off a ladder a lot so it's handy to use a hook like this to hang your paint can and it leaves your hands free to caulk or hold onto the ladder!  I just had a thick piece of copper wire that I bent into an "S" shape.

I also love these little mini roller screens designed to fit a gallon can of paint.  I hate using a pan and avoid it whenever I can and many times if you are painting the exterior of the house you don't really have a flat place to sit those pans.  You can get these for 5 gallon buckets or these gallon sizes and they are much easier to use and faster to clean up than the pans and all that crap.
So, I'm going as quickly as I can on the outside because that means I can then start on the kitchen!!  Actually, I can start doing a few prep things on the kitchen in the evenings after supper and I'll show ya'll a few of the things I'm working on there.

Tea For Two

I'm not sure if I ever showed ya'll a close up of the tea plants I ordered or not so I thought I'd post abut that today.  They are basically an evergreen shrub, Camellia Sinensis, although there are several varieties.  Some have white blooms, some have pink etc.  I have 3 each of the white and pink but I think I'm going to prefer the white blooming shrubs, which this is.  They seem to have a much more vigorous growing habit and a more tender leaf.
Anyway, they seem to be doing really well here and are already putting out a lot of new shoots.  As I've told show people though, they have not gone through a winter yet but I believe they'll be just fine.  Our regular camellias grow prolifically here with hardly any care at all.

Starting in the spring, you pinch off the 3 tiny shoots at the tip of each limb and this is what makes the tea.  Whether or not you make black, white, green or oolong depends on how the leaves are fermented, if at all, and how they are dried.  It doesn't sound horribly complicated but I'm sure you have to be pretty consistent in your drying etc. to get a good product.  I would like to just be able to supply myself with tea but if I could make more, I think it would make a good side income.  Of course, that would require A LOT of plants!!

Get It While You Can

I guess this is just a little photo update of what's going on around here now.  Whole different set of plants blooming now in the driveway flower bed.  The daisy-like flowers in the foreground is Feverfew.  I need to pick a good supply of the flowers to dry for tea.  It funny 'cause last summer these disappeared but I guess the seeds survived in the ground and came up this year.

I FINALLY got a clematis vine to bloom!  It's not very big but has lovely flowers on it.  I'm not sure why I have such trouble with these.

Most of the garden is doing quite well.  On the right you can see the first bits of the peas and green beans coming up.

The broccoli has done much better this year; larger heads and all.  I have harvested about 4 quarts of the stuff so far.  Ate two and froze two.  I still have about 6 plants that I have not touched.  I may pull up some of the ones I've cut and use the space to plant some more hot weather crops and leave a few broccoli to produce the occasional side crop, if it will.  I'll sow another crop towards fall to try to have some for the winter.

The raspberries are doing great!!  Fingers crossed!  The birds have been rough on my strawberries and I had to put netting over them; may have to do the same with these.  I'm not much on preserving raspberries so I'll probably just gorge myself on them fresh!  It's a fine trade-off to me.  Fresh, plump berries for a few weeks as opposed to mushy, mediocre berries all year round.

Good bug or bad bug??  He didn't seem to be eating my plant; just kinda hanging out.  Beautiful design work on 'em.  Maybe a warning symbol to birds not to eat?

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird have raised one brood already this year and have started on their second!  I moved their nesting box into the fenced garden area after those damn raccoons ate their babies last year.  Now all those coons will get is a handful of hot wire if they try to get at them.  The bluebirds really seem to enjoy this area, even with us occasionally working in the garden.  And they patrol the garden regularly for bugs to feed their babies and themselves.  The garden is really starting to deliver the goods and all the critters like the birds and worms and such are very active in it.  I think I'm almost as proud of the garden as I am of the house.

Friday Food.....on Saturday

 I still have several of the roosters in the freezer from our first ever batch of chickens and I alternate between cooking one of them and one of the broiler chickens, which are much better for baking or roasting.  The assorted roosters are just a little too lean to make a good baking chicken but I was determined to find the best way to cook them and not waste any.  What I found is a super easy way to cook them.  I just defrost one and simmer it in a big pot for 1 to 2 hours.  This accomplishes several things:  1. I get at least a half a gallon of good, fresh chicken stock for seasoning and soups.  2.  The chicken meat is extremely easy to pull off the bone, assuring it's all used with no waste and it's very tender.  (the bones then go back into the stock pot to simmer another hour or so.)  3.  I now have a couple of pounds of juicy chicken meat to use in whatever recipe I decide on.  I've been bad to just bake a chicken, because it's so easy, and not experiment with new ways to cook them and this way I have to come up with a new recipe.
Southern Living just happen to put out a bunch of new chicken recipes this week so I decided to their Chicken Enchiladas.  It was very good.

Chicken Enchiladas

5 tablespoons of butter, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
3 (4 oz.) cans diced green chilies, divided
3 cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese, divided
8 soft taco size tortillas
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
Toppings: fresh cilantro, chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium heat;  add onion and bell pepper, saute' 5 minutes or until tender.

Stir together onion mixture, chicken, 1 can diced chilies and 2 cups shredded cheese.  Spoon a heaping 1/3 cup onto each tortilla and roll up.  Arrange tortillas , seams down, in a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt remaining butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; whisk in flour until smooth.  Cook, whisking constantly 1 minute.  Gradually stir in broth and milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes or until thick and bubbly.  Remove from heat and stir in remaining 2 cans of chilies.

Remove enchiladas from oven and pour green chili mixture over enchiladas.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake at 350 degrees (F.) for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly.  Serve with desired toppings.

Now, I used corn tortillas instead of flour because I like the texture better for enchiladas.  I also added a little cumin, garlic, red pepper flakes and cilantro to the chicken mixture because I didn't have any green chilies.  Oh, I also added some fresh yellow corn to this mixture.  I had more chicken than what they called for so my recipe ended up making about 16 tortillas; it filled the whole pan, but I just whipped up a little more sauce than what they called for.  In fact, I made extra to pour over the enchiladas right before serving as you can see in the photo.  I thought it was quite yummy and apparently Jack did too.  It would be good served with a small salad too.

Since we've found a local source for fresh, mostly organic, actually tasty strawberries, we have bought about 4 gallons to put up.  I took a couple of cups and mixed with some store bought rhubarb to make this pie last night.  Yummyyyyyy!!!!  Yeah, I know my crust is messy and kinda wonky but who cares!  It doesn't last long!

Seeing Red

I've been promising to put up a few pictures to show Ed what really red soil looks like around here, as compared to the soil of my land. My foot is somewhat better by the way, but I really have had to take drastic measures to get it to heal all the way.  The new shoes and inserts and supplements and all the other stuff you nice people have suggested is working I think but I've also gone as far as to use crutches now whenever possible to just stay completely off my foot.
 Anyway; back to my original story.  The photo above is from a job I was on south of Birmingham.  Now, some of you may know that Birmingham was once a significant steel manufacturing town.  The Pittsburgh of the South! so they say.  Well, this was due, in great part, to the large deposits of iron ore that lay across the middle section of the state.  Red Mountain in the heart of Birmingham really is red.

And this is a chunk of ground iron ore that came from about 50 feet below the surface of Red Mountain.  Many, many years ago I was on a job being built right on top of the mountain and the building had an elevator installed in it.  The guys drilled a large hole down into the mountain for the hydraulic shaft of the elevator to fit in and every time they would bring the drill bit up, which was huge, I would clean the slurry off of it to save.  It was almost pure iron ore and makes a great colorant for ceramic glazes and clay.  Of course, this isn't really soil but this mineral is what gives that famed red clay of the south it's color.

There is actually a local clothing company, Earth Creations, that sells organically grown cotton clothing that has been dyed with this iron ore.  And yes, it will stain your hands and clothes and everything you get it on!
I still use the ore in some of my glazes and such and it's a great selling point when you tell people about it.

I also promised to show the birthday present I bought for me at the art show I did a couple of weeks ago and since it is predominantly red, I thought it fit right in with this post!  It's a very nice watercolor done by an artist from Tennessee and will be very appropriate hanging in a southern kitchen, I think.

Local Color

Since I can't seem to get a break with my own strawberries, I decided to drive over to a neighboring small town that has a couple of those 'you pick' strawberry farms.  They also claim to use organic growing practices and when I chatted with the farmer he readily explained what that meant.  He also confirmed my choice for ordering Chandler strawberries for this area.  He said they were great for home gardeners and the ones he sold us were quite tasty!  So, on the way there and back I thought ya'll might like to see some of the surrounding countryside.  I know I've shown similar pictures before but this area is a bit more hilly.  I've always thought it was very pretty out this way.

We've been getting out quite a bit these past couple of weeks in order to appease my wanderlust. I know going to pick strawberries isn't very exciting but we do other, more cosmopolitan things too!  The concert the other week is a good example.  I know it seems crazy to some that someone like myself, that likes to wander so much, would tie themselves down to a homestead type place but I don't know of another way to achieve the type of life I want of food and economic independence.  It's nice to have a partner that I know will take care of things while I'm out exploring or go with me on occasion too.

These 2 barns I have pictures of are a bit of an unusual style for the south but I think they are cool.  The lower roof on this one is sort of an odd design.

We also participated in a community yard sale yesterday.  We made a little money and, more importantly, got rid of some more stuff that might be cluttering the place here. We also had the good luck to be put next to a local Hispanic church at the yard sale that was raising money by selling home cooked food.  They had some magnificent tamales.  Holy cow!!  I LOVE good tamales!  Between me and Allen they made pretty good on their food.  I also got some nachos, which they talked me into putting pickled jalapenos on, and it was good! Of course, I might have made a few more dollars if we hadn't been put next to them but we had fun.

This is another unusual design for this area but oddly enough, there is one very similar to it about 15 miles south of here.  That one is on a dairy farm and this may have been one also at one time; it's now just for beef cattle.
So, today I am trying to get some loose ends tied up and cleaned up for tomorrow starts the big push to finish the house!!  I will still be doing pottery part of the week but I am really getting serious about completing the house and landscaping.  AND, I expect ya'll to give me a kick if I start slacking off any.  My first project is to complete the painting of the exterior.  I know, it's downright awful that I have not finished that before now!!  Once I get that done, which shouldn't take more than 2-3 days, I think I will then move to the kitchen.

Planting Seeds

We have been a little late getting the rest of the garden planted but it's no big deal really, since our growing season is so long here.  Our last frost is usually around April 18th so I'm not horribly late!  And we kept having these really cold spells of near freezing temps after having a really warm March so I was afraid to set out hot weather plants.  It's all worked out though.  We have expanded the garden over into the secondary chicken run where we kept the broilers.  The area above, in the original garden, was planted with green beans, black-eyed peas, tomatoes, cukes and squash in addition to the cool weather crops already in.  On the far left you can see part of the broccoli and brussel sprouts.  In the far left back you can see the potatoes coming up nicely.  All the fruits are over here too.  I tidied up too, cleaning out the cold frame and such but this area needs much more work.

This is the expansion area where I planted corn and cantaloupes.  The broilers pooped this place full for about 3 months so it should be well fertilized!  To the right, on the other side of the fence, is blueberries, strawberries in the raised bed, and raspberries down by the coop.  That white dot down by the little black door is Goober digging in the dirt.

I am trying a different approach in planting my tomatoes this year.  I was reading some gardening info and came upon one lady's procedure for planting and it sounded good so I thought I'd try it.  Basically, you dig a deep hole, deeper than you are going to plant your plant.  Know what I mean?  She recommended 2 feet deep but my plants were only about 1 foot tall so I dug about 16 inches down.  Throw in a handful of basic fertilizer.  I just happened to have some organic stuff formulated for tomatoes.  Then, throw in a couple of crushed eggshells.  Then a fish head if you have it.  I didn't, so I just poured in a little fish emulsion and a banana peel.  Then, throw in a little bone meal and a few inches of dirt on top of all that.  Then, plant your tomato plant.  I plant mine deep to help them establish deep roots so I had about 4-5 inches of plant sticking up after filling the hole.  Then, bury 2 aspirin tablets about 6 inches away from the plant stalk.  This is supposed to help the tomato resist some blights.  Just a little epsom salts might not hurt either.  So, we'll see.  I'll either kill them or have great maters!

Hey, in other news, I cooked my very first, totally from scratch pizza!!  I made the dough and everything!  I was surprised at how quick it was to do so and it came out great!  I would like a crust that was maybe just a tad chewier? Maybe?  But it was still good.  I just threw together some stuff I happened to have for the toppings.  I used some chard (it's like spinach), smoked sausage, ham, onions and feta cheese.  I thought it was great!  The feta adds a wonderful flavor.

I'm Boring Myself....

 I keep telling myself that I'm going to write of some exciting new adventure or perhaps something of an insightful post about what's going on with me, like I used to.  But by the time I finish with work and chores and then supper and a shower, all I feel like doing is sipping a shot of whiskey and letting Jack rub my feet.  Not exactly tales to keep you on the edge of your seat.  We have actually had a few adventures lately, besides the chickens tearing the hell out of the garden.  Oh, and by the way, I get my revenge on them all tomorrow. Ha!!  I'll post pictures. 
I think I'm feeling overwhelmed again by what I have left to finish on the house and can't get my mind wrapped around writing about many subjects because all I'm thinking about is what I need to do to finish the kitchen, the living room etc..  I have decided no more art shows etc. until I get the house finished.  I am simply going to have to make time to do this.
 So, in the meantime, ya'll get more garden pictures.  I know you're thrilled.  I was actually thrilled to see my first little asparagi shooting forth from the soil!  Never fear, they are all still intact and shall remain so for another couple of years. *sigh*

 The blank spots in the back part of the strawberry bed is where there were plants but some damn chickens tore them up.  I actually replanted them and they do have a few tiny, new green shoots on them but I think it will take awhile before they recover.

Thank goodness the chickens didn't ravage my raspberries or they might really have been supper.  The berries are doing well!  I hope to have a big crop.  The first year I pruned these all down to the ground at the being of winter, as the book said, and had a fair crop the next spring but this past winter I only pruned them about halfway.  I think they seem to like that better.

 My tea plants arrived!!!  They were a bit bigger than I expected, so that was good!  I had a bit more clearing to do where they will be planted so they are still on the deck tonight but I should be able to plant them tomorrow.  I'm very excited about this!

This is the area behind the house where they will go.  They supposedly like part shade, part sun and well drained soil.  Well, that's what they got here so we'll see.  Did I mention that I am excited about this?

And here is one more exciting thing!!  Rhubarb!!  I know you're probably wondering why it's in a pot and I assure you it isn't going to stay there.  I had planted, directly in the garden, 2 other large rhubarb roots that I had ordered from a company.  Supposed to be bred just for the south.  Well, they never came up.  Nothing.  So, I was at one of those big box gardening shops one day and happened to see they had a pack of 2 rhubarb roots for sale.  I said 'what the heck'; they were a different type and looked like real roots, not like the black shriveled things I had got in the mail.  (wonder what kinda search engine hits that sentence will get..)  Anyway, I planted them here so I could monitor them a little better and then transplant them to the garden later, on the off chance they grew.  Well, they have grew like crazy!!  And yes, I know it will be another 2 years before I can really cut much of these too, but they are on their way!!

So, that's my exciting post...ha!  Anybody else have anything new or unusual that ya'll are growing this year?

What's Next

Well, this is phase 1 of Garden Experiment 2012. Rhubarb. Don't know if it will grow here but I'm sure going to try. This is the 'McDonald' variety; supposed to tolerate the heat here. We'll see.


Also in the experiment is asparagus! You can see some already coming up in the background of this photo. I didn't get enough plants in the first order to fill up the whole bed Jack built so I had to order again. What has come up seems to be doing well.


The blueberries are doing really well this year, so far. I am keeping these watered better than last year in an effort to prevent them from all falling off before they ripen. The bushes have about doubled in size since last year and are really heavy with fruit.


My first strawberries are ripening! I ate the first handful this morning! Yum-O!!! The raspberries also seem to be doing well and setting much fruit; even the wild blackberries look like they are going to do well this year. Hopefully this will be a great year for fruit!


The rest of the cool weather crops are doing well so we'll see if they actually produce much.


This is a little better close up of the sprouting asparagus. Maybe one day. *sigh*

I have been pretty busy getting ready for this show coming up and just haven't been able to wrap my head around a topic for posting. Maybe I will have something interesting soon. After this show is over I'm going to have to make a concerted effort to start working on the house again. I've got parts of the kitchen sitting all around the house waiting to be installed and just no time. Well, I'm going to make time. I may have to write out an actual schedule for each hour of the day but I'm going to get this house finished! It's ran way too far over and I'm tired of it being undone. So, time to knuckle down and get serious. I've kept thinking that I'd start when I got through with work or after my feet got a little better or after the garden was in or yah, yah, yah and things never get anywhere like that. For me anyway. Plus, it seems this blog has gotten so boring and stale lately I've got to give ya'll something more interesting or you're going to dump me!!

I am trying to redo and add some pages to the blog so ya'll can check out the 'Pottery' page and tell me how you like it or don't like it. I want to add a 'Food' page that includes all recipes and a "See Alabama' page that includes many of the great places to visit here. Or weird places or unusual places and all that.

Workin' For A Living

Well, I finally bit the bullet and signed up to do an art/ craft show. I actually like doing the shows because I enjoy getting out and meeting my customers and seeing new places but I hate dealing the state and sales taxes. I mean, I have no problem paying my sales tax; that's fine. It's that the state of Alabama makes it into the biggest ordeal if you declare yourself a business that sells retail. See, if you only sell wholesale, somebody else has to pay the sales tax and deal with them. I like it that way but they, the retailer, also get to take a large chunk of your sales. But I am inevitably going to have to declare myself a business and do some shows to get more income coming in. The stores where I have my work are actually doing pretty good but like I say, they take between 40-50% of the sales. I know that sounds like a horrible amount but by the time I do a show and pay the entry fee, sales taxes, gas to get there, other travel expenses, signage, booth expenses etc. I'm spending probably 40% of my profits anyway.


So anyway, I've been pretty busy making stuff to fill up my stores and then have enough left over to do this show and in between running to Birmingham to deliver work and all.

I've been kinda down too of late. I guess I'm kinda depressed over leaving my construction job. I know that may sound funny and I've written about missing the guys, so ya'll know that part of it. I'm also down because see, I left before I was finished with my work. Some could say I drug up, although I gave Daddy Rabbit over a week's notice. We had talked on a couple of occasions about it beforehand. I know if you have not worked construction you may not see the significance of that but to leave before you finish your part is considered unethical or sorry. There were a number of factors that led to me leaving but one of the main ones is one that kinda makes me feel silly. It was my feet. I have developed a couple of issues with my feet and basically walking is often times extremely painful. Walking or standing all day in heavy boots on concrete is agony at times and if it rained...I would just about be in tears. I have been to the doctor and the inserts he made did help for a while but they have become less effective and his only other suggestion was to shoot me full of steroids. I will NOT go that route. So, I am now trying to find alternative help. I have tried about every kind of insert, padding, prosthetic, etc. they make and not much luck so far. I have plantar fasciitis in one foot and arthritis in both.
So, yes, I'm kinda down. Jack and I wanted to do a lot more hiking and such here and even go back to the Grand Canyon to hike to the bottom and back up. Hell, right now I have trouble walking to the mailbox and back.
But, I'll keep trying to find a solution or some therapy that helps. And I've also tried a number of shoes, boots and all that. So, that's what's going on with me.

Oh, and I want to thank DoubleHomestead for this award that he felt I deserved!! Thanks so much! I do appreciate it and meant to mention it earlier; I've just had a number of things going on and on my mind. My longtime readers know I'm kinda dingy sometimes but I do appreciate every one's readership, emails and comments.

Spreading The Wealth

The wealth of plants and flowers that is... I've always preferred to think of myself as frugal but I guess sometimes I'm just downright cheap because it just kills me to pay full price for plants and such sometimes. I mean, I will occasionally buy, and pay good money for, certain plants. Like an heirloom apple tree. But for the most part there are just so many ways to come by free or really cheap plants and gardening tools and I know these days lots of people don't have a lot of extra money for such anyway. So, being that gardening and such are the big "in" thing, how does one come by plants and save money too?
1. Most of the plants in my driveway flower bed were extras shared with me by friends or my mom. If you have friends that garden they most likely will have some plants that need dividing or reseed freely and most people are happy to share these.
2. I've told ya'll before about my .25 cent mums I get on clearance at the end of the fall season. Each season has their own clearance sales, so watch for these. I probably have 5 mums in this bed that I got for a quarter a piece. They might need a little TLC for the first season but I've never had any die and the next year they come back great.
3. Old abandoned homesteads are great for digging plants, just make sure you have permission. I've even dug them off the side of the road but make sure this is okay too beforehand. Several counties in my state also have "plant dig days" at the local landfills. Whenever they are about to move to a new area of a landfill they will let the public go in and dig whatever native plants you want before the area is cleared. These are always free and announced several weeks ahead of time. Your state may have something similar.
If you have any friends in the know, you can often go into a construction site before the excavation starts to dig plants too.


4. Jack and I happened upon a winter clearance sale at a gardening center and got 6 bottles of this fish emulsion fertilizer for $1 a bottle, so they often have many things besides plants on clearance. Keep your eyes open even in the winter too.


5. I'm very fortunate to have many great native species that grow all over my land; some of your friends or you may also. I have counted about 5 different species of ferns on my property, not to mention hydrangea, dogwoods, rhododendron and scads of flowers, so whenever I have an area I want to spruce up I often just go transplant stuff I already have out in the woods. You can fill in with one or two store bought plants if you like.


6. Don't be afraid to dumpster dive!! I got this cool, old planter out of a dumpster on a job I was on and my mom has been known to dig plants out of a dumpster too! The planter was broke but a steel pin in the base and that was fixed. Stuff like this has so much more character than that plastic/ foam crap they make these days. Thrift stores and flea markets are also good places to find old funky garden decor.
7. Many seed vendors will send you a free pack of flower seeds when you place an order for other stuff. I've gotten several packs of seeds this way.
8. Many people will also be happy to let you take cuttings from shrubs and trees they have or you can just propagate your own stuff this way. Sometimes it's kinda tricky to get them to take but even if they don't you are usually not out much or any money.
9. Joining gardening clubs is a good way to find friends for swapping plants and our local Master Gardeners club often has sales around town or at the farmers market where you can get some really good deals.

Do any of ya'll have any other frugal ways to acquire plants, seeds or tools for gardening?

Growin's On

Well, spring has slapped everybody upside the head around here and there is much going on. Ms. Prissy (on the right) is broody again so we have put her in the run to try to snap her out of it. She gets it so bad she doesn't even have to have any eggs. She tries to hatch the golf balls we keep in the nesting boxes. Shes' already pretty looney, even for a chicken, but when she gets like this she is really nutty. It takes her about a week of not being about to get to a nesting box and she usually snaps out of it though. Poor little Sheila is having to stay with her because she seems to have a bad cold or something and I want her to stay away from the others while I treat her. It's so hard to diagnose a chicken. She sneezes a lot and breathes hard sometimes. I hope it is not infectious bronchitis but she is getting an antibiotic just in case. I don't like to give drugs like that but I don't want her to die either or spread it. Yes, she's in with Prissy but I'm short on space and better one other get it than everybody. Everybody is getting olive leaf for now, an anti-viral, just in case and because I'm not sure what it is.
We also replanted the main run with grass and it has done well, as you can see. They had eaten every speck of grass here but this crop is doing well and should maintain it's self better as they only go in here for cases like this.


The garden is doing well, especially all the herbs. The flowers on the sage are just this electric blue. Gorgeous! In the background you can see the monster catnip plant but it got severely pruned yesterday. It was already crowding everything around it and will be huge again by summer.


The composted chicken poo in the rows before planting seems to have helped a lot! The broccoli that got most of it is doing great! Maybe I will get a harvest before it gets too hot. I'm really trying to establish a permaculture thing here where all the plants and animals work together. The chicken poo feeds the garden and the garden feeds us and then the chickens too. I have added a little bone meal and some natural fish fertilizer but am trying to avoid most commercial fertilizers, even organic ones. I'd rather build the soil using compost and such and it seems to be working. I dig up lots of wormies any time I plant something, whereas before they were pretty scarce.


Here is the massive amount of catnip I harvested. Not sure what I'm going to do with it though. I mean, we use it for a sleepy tea and Grendal likes it of course, but we don't use a tremendous amount. I've got 3 large bundles drying and maybe I can give some away too. I'll probably just compost a good bit. It should be good for that.

I have a post or so about my pottery and such coming up; I'm working out how I'm going to make my living now that I'm done with the construction. Does anybody have any questions or idea they would like to see a post about? Want to know how I do anything it particular? Just let me know!!

Those Old Backroads Again

I suppose I shall always get some perverse pleasure from loading my tools up in Ol' Blue and heading out for the open road. Why, I don't know that I could really say. Joyful associations of my freer and younger days? The simple curiosity to see what is over that next hill? Probably a combination of many things really.


But don't worry dear reader; I haven't reneged on my vow to retire from that life. I just took the weekend to go help a dear friend expand their little vacation house on the river. Being in a flood plain, the house sits up on steel columns and more steel was needed for the expansion, thus the need for a welder. I was happy to help.


It was about 3 hours south of my place and took me to some areas of Alabama I had never seen before. Funny thing, you still see lots of old pecan groves, lots of cattle farms. Just on much flatter land than is around my home.


Nice view when it wasn't covered by my welding hood. Saw lots of ducks and other water fowl. Didn't get a chance to go fishing though. We had to work fairly steadily to be able to get it done over the weekend. Had lots of good food and good company to make up for it however.


Now, this is only about 10 miles south of my place; note the hills in the background. I arrived back at my place about 5:00 p.m. and have been playing catchup ever since, so I may be a little late returning emails or such and now it's way past bedtime. I'll be back soon with more news and photos.